American Airlines

There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets. Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees.

Florida-based Spirit Airlines has topped another unflattering ranking. A few weeks ago the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund analyzed complaint rates among passengers over the last five years. The ultra-low-cost carrier came out on top of that list. Spirit now ranks at the top again - for the rudest flight attendants. A survey of 3,400 people by the travel website Airfarewatchdog found that 26% said Spirit has the rudest flight attendants. Air Canada came in second with 14%, followed by Frontier Airlines with 11% and Virgin America with 9%. Southwest Airlines was at the bottom of the list, with only 1%. The service given by flight attendants may reflect how they are treated by airlines, according to a flight attendants union.

American Airlines has eliminated its so-called bereavement fares for people who need to book a last-minute flight because of the death of a loved one. The airline, which is merging with US Airways, said it discontinued the fare as of Feb. 18 to be consistent with the policies of US Airways. In the past, American Airlines offered a bereavement fare that was lower than typical last-minute fares but varied based on route, departure time, availability and other factors. Instead, American Airlines now offers only to waive change fees for travelers who have a pre-purchased ticket and want to use it to attend the funeral of an immediate family member.

Airline mergers have put more than 70% of the nation's domestic traffic in the hands of four major carriers. But low-cost airlines still have some influence over airfares. A new study shows that when airlines such as JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier, Alaska and Southwest launch service on an existing domestic route, the average price from all carriers drops as much as 67%. It's good news for travelers, but aviation experts say most popular routes are still dominated by the four biggest carriers: United, Delta, Southwest and the soon-to-be-merged American and US Airways.

Passengers on Swissair's long-haul jets later this year will get a chance to do some casino-style gambling during their flights. Las Vegas-based Interactive Flight Technologies has completed a contract with Swissair for the installation of its In-Flight Entertainment Network on all of the airline's long-haul jets. The first plane is scheduled to be equipped with the system, which will cost between $70 million and $80 million, in October and to be in flight by November.

If you get a suspicious email that appears to be from American Airlines, it could be part of a scam to pilfer personal information. The airline suspects that hackers have sent out, as recently as November, what are known as "phishing" emails intended to mislead people into giving up information such as their passwords to the airline's reward program. To warn customers, American Airlines has posted several examples of the phony emails on its website. One such email says the recipient has paid $278 for a flight to New York and should download the ticket.

American Airlines, whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in November, is closing its operations at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and ending flights from Chicago to New Delhi. In addition to closing operations at those two airports, the airline said it plans to cut 150 positions. "Our objective is to make our company competitive and more efficient in an increasingly challenging industry," the airline said in a statement Monday. The flights from Bob Hope Airport will end Feb.

The merger of American Airlines and US Airways was unusual when it was proposed last year because it seemed to have the support of all the major employee unions involved. But one of the biggest unions for US Airways is threatening to strike, and the group now has the support of its union brothers from American Airlines. The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers -- which represents about 14,000 US Airways machinists, mechanics and fleet service workers -- has been trying to negotiate a new contract with US Airways for more than two years.

Less than two months after Delta Airlines revamped its loyalty rewards program, American Airlines has announced loyalty program changes that offer breaks for some travelers but cut out some freebies for others. Unlike the overhaul made at Delta, American will continue to base its rewards points on how many miles you travel. Delta's program now calculates points based on how much money you spend on air travel. The changes announced Tuesday by American attempt to more closely align the rewards rules of the carrier and US Airways, which are in the process of merging to become the world's largest airline.

FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines raised the stakes in its battle with ticket sellers by suing travel website Orbitz and distributor Travelport Ltd., accusing them of monopoly tactics. American says the companies are trying to control the distribution of airline tickets to business travelers and are retaliating against American for objecting. Orbitz and Travelport denied American's charges. Orbitz said Wednesday that American was trying to grab control over ticket distribution to limit customer choice and reduce competition.

DALLAS - It's taken them longer than they wanted, but the Ducks have found a formula to beat the fast, physical Dallas Stars. Now it's just a matter of proving it translates to the enemy ground of American Airlines Center. "You want to finish it here. That's our mind-set," Ducks forward Corey Perry said Saturday. Friday's 6-2 victory in Anaheim gave the Western Conference top-seeded Ducks a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series with Game 6 Sunday in Dallas, where both of the Ducks' losses have occurred.

A government study on the effects of airline mergers found that flight cancellations and delays increased when competition on a route drops. The study by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general was ordered by Congress in the wake of the proposal to merge American Airlines and US Airways into the world's largest air carrier. The study looked at delays and cancellation rates when the number of airlines serving a route dropped from three to two airlines. It looked at 32.2 million flights and flight performances from 70 U.S. airports.

A man who went into full cardiac arrest died aboard a flight Tuesday morning from Dallas to John Wayne in Orange County, authorities said. Crew members attempted to revive the passenger but he was pronounced dead at 11:45 a.m. when the American Airlines jet landed. The county's coroner's office identified the passenger as John Selner, 78, of Fort Worth, Texas. Airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge wrote in an email that crew members aboard the inbound American Airlines flight told officials at John Wayne that a passenger was in the midst of a medical emergency about 11:20 a.m. When the plane landed, the passenger was rushed to a secure place in one of the airport's three terminals until coroner's officials arrived, Wedge wrote.

A national study on customer satisfaction suggests that passenger satisfaction ratings slump after airlines undergo a merger with another carrier. The nation's top airlines received a combined score of 69 on a 1-to-100 scale, below the average scores for banks, insurance companies, gas stations, hotels and the U.S. Postal Service, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, an annual study released Tuesday. The airlines' score remained the same from last year's customer satisfaction score.

DALLAS -- The Ducks established their franchise record for road victories this season (25), winning at hostile dens like San Jose, Staples Center, St. Louis (twice) and Chicago. Monday night at Dallas is a different animal. The Stars, trailing Anaheim, 2-0, in a Western Conference first-round series, haven't played a home playoff game since May 19, 2008, when they were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference finals. "Desperate team, their fans are going to be pumped," former Stars and current Ducks defenseman Stephane Robidas said Sunday after his team practiced at American Airlines Center.

A 14-year-old Dutch girl, whose Twitter message to American Airlines was interpreted as a terrorist threat, has been freed after a brief arrest and confronted with a worldwide barrage of tweets debating whether she was a victim of security excess or an "idiot" for performing the stunt. The girl, identified only as Sarah, was briefly taken into custody Monday, a day after she sent a tweet to @AmericanAir with the message: “hello my name is Ibrahim and I'm from Afghanistan. I'm part of Al Qaida and on June 1st I'm gonna do something really big bye. " The airline responded swiftly: "Sarah, we take these threats very seriously.

Here's your fight-the-power Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web: --Christmas wasn't kind to the video game industry. U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 21% in December from a year ago, to $3.99 billion, as players bought fewer games for their aging consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group. The month's poor performance was unexpected given the quality of new games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was the top-seller, and Just Dance 3, which placed second.

April 16, 2013 | By Hugo Martin, This post has been updated. See the note below for details.

Computer problems have forced American Airlines, one of the nation's largest air carriers, to keep hundreds of its flights from departing across the country. The Fort Worth-based airline said it has been struggling with intermittent computer problems for a while. Because of the latest glitch, all American Airlines flights that are on the tarmac will remain there until at least 2 p.m. PDT. [Updated , 12:45 p.m. PDT April 16: American Airlines said it would waive the change fees for passengers whose flights were delayed and who wanted to book another flight.

US Airways apologized Monday for sending out a Twitter message that included a pornographic image. The airline acknowledged that the image came from its Twitter account but said it was sent by mistake. US Airways said the image was originally sent to the airline's account and US Airways tried to flag is as inappropriate. "Unfortunately the image was inadvertently included in a response to a customer," the airline said in a statement. "We immediately realized the error and removed our tweet.

Question: On March 7, I flew to Sacramento from L.A. for an overnight trip. I packed light - just a dress, belt, shoes, sweats, nightshirt, a bag of toiletries and my iPad. When I arrived at my hotel and opened my bag, there was a notice that the Transportation Security Administration had gone through my luggage. When I was getting dressed, I noticed my belt was missing. I had carefully packed it in the see-through zipper compartment of my suitcase, as I didn't want it to fall out. It was my favorite belt, old, vintage, worn and funky.